Unsung heroes: Fleur Delacour | Wizarding World (2024)

A Beauxbatons champion

If Fleur was into Shania Twain, which she most likely wasn’t, we feel she’d particularly enjoy ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’, seeing as that’s definitely the vibe she gave off when she is first introduced in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Rocking up with Team Beauxbatons to join the Triwizard Tournament, Fleur was both unequivocally beautiful and distinctly unimpressed by her surroundings.

But Fleur’s compassion quickly materalised after Harry rescued her sister Gabrielle from the Great Lake in one of the Triwizard tasks. After failing to save her sister herself, she was overcome with gratitude, and soon Ron found himself overcome with kisses. She and Harry even grew to become friends, and Fleur dropped the icy attitude, displaying a genuinely caring attitude to those she loved.

The Triwizard Tournament was also what brought Bill Weasley and Fleur together for the first time. While they didn't formally meet, Fleur certainly set her sights on him, sowing the seeds of their romance.

Fleur Delacour, Harry noticed, was eyeing Bill with great interest over her mother's shoulder. Harry could tell she had no objection whatsoever to long hair or earrings with fangs on them.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Joining the Weasleys

Between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix we don't really hear much from Fleur – although we do hear that she got a job at Gringotts to improve her English, and that Bill has been giving her ‘a lot of private lessons’. The next time she properly turned up in Half-Blood Prince, it turns out those ‘private lessons’ quickly turned into love. In fact, when Harry meets her again, Fleur and Bill have become engaged. As a more saccharine Fleur tried to integrate into the Weasley clan, however, her plainspoken manner (‘…zere isn’t much to do ’ere, unless you like cooking and chickens!') did not entirely endear her to the likes of Ginny and Molly, earning her the nickname Phlegm.

But despite initial impressions and her schmaltzy romance with Bill, Fleur soon showed that she was more than just a pretty quarter-Veela with a tactless turn of phrase. She may be dubbed Phlegm by the family, but her willingness to get involved with the Weasleys revealed Fleur’s kind heart. She even went the whole hog and brought Harry breakfast in bed, Mrs Weasley-style.

‘There was no need to bring up the tray, I was just about to do it myself!’
‘Eet was no trouble,’ said Fleur Delacour, setting the tray across Harry's knees and then swooping in to kiss him on each cheek.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

An engaging engagement

For all the mushiness of Fleur and Bill’s relationship, their love blossomed sweetly against the backdrop of the war that was brewing in the wizarding world. Despite the tragedies gradually surfacing as Voldemort’s powers grew stronger, so did Bill and Fleur, and the coupling turned out to be pretty inspiring.

Fleur went from mushy fiancée to fierce fiancée in one fell swoop after the Fenrir Greyback attack on Bill: a harrowing time that actually turned into a huge character-building moment for Fleur. Mrs Weasley, assuming Fleur would no longer want to marry Bill because of his disfigurement, wept for her son, but unexpectedly realised Fleur was defiant, and her love for her son was undying. Or as Fleur so Fleur-ishly put it, ‘I am good-looking enough for both of us’.

Fleur standing up to her mother-in-law is the moment when Mrs Weasley (and Ginny) realise that Fleur is actually a compassionate and loving person, and Bill means the world to her.

‘All these scars show is zat my husband is brave!’
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The Battle of Hogwarts and the Seven Potters

Loyalty meant a great deal to Fleur, as shown by her desire to stay friends and support Harry long after the events of Goblet of Fire. Also, she’s shown to be fierce and brave – well, she was a Triwizard Champion for a reason. During Deathly Hallows, Fleur became a key cog in the resistance against Voldemort, while still delivering some classic Fleur-isms along the way.

‘Bah,' said Fleur, checking herself in the microwave door. ‘Bill, don't look at me - I'm ‘ideous.'
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Once she and Bill married – which was the kind of uplifting , quaint affair the wizarding world direly needed – they retired to Shell Cottage. Neither Bill nor Fleur were resigned to the quiet life, though. And when Ron, Hermione, Harry, Griphook, Ollivander and Luna arrived to their humble abode, she was quick to aid them.

At the Battle of Hogwarts, Fleur bravely fought alongside her friends and helped with the war effort. J.K. Rowling would later go on to reveal that Fleur survived and went on to raise three children with Bill and obtained medals of honour from both the British and French Ministries of Magic.

It's a testament to Fleur's warmth and steady wit that she so readily helped her friends and relatives in their hour of need. Gone was the idea of Fleur being a frosty diva – in its place she established herself as a genuinely kind, if slightly blunt, hero for the ages.

And for that, we j’adore her.

Each month Pottermore will shine a spotlight on a character from the Harry Potter stories who we feel deserves more credit. Come back next month when we celebrate Lee Jordan.